WHO'LL ADVOCATE FOR MULTILATERALIST INSTITUTIONS NOW?

Franks may face war crimes charge: Belgium under pressure to amend law allowing case to proceed (Ian Black, April 30, 2003, The Guardian)

Belgium is coming under pressure from the US to block a potentially explosive war crimes case against General Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Jan Fermon, a Brussels lawyer, confirmed yesterday that 19 Iraqi plaintiffs were seeking to bring charges that would name the general and other US soldiers who had allegedly committed crimes.

Mr Fermon claimed there were 17 violations of Belgium's controversial 1993 war crimes law, which allowed universal jurisdiction until it was amended early this month.

The legal move could prove embarrassing for the government of Guy Verhofstadt, who opposed the war in Iraq along with France and Germany, and is now seeking to mend fences with the US.

When President Bush refused to subject U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court, this was precisely the kind of scenario that he and others who believe in our own sovereignty were worried about. Democrats and other transnationalists assured that these concerns were overblown. We eagerly await the first Democratic presidential candidate to announce he/she too thinks that General Franks should stand trial for war crimes. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 14, 2003 11:42 AM